SEATTLE, WA — (Marketwire) — 01/29/13 — Calico Energy Services (), the market leader in unified operations centers for Demand Side Management, today announced that it will license a set of powerful technologies from called Grid Command Active Demand Management (ADM). This new technology gives consumers and producers unprecedented control over their electricity decisions.
Grid Command ADM provides software components that enable utilities to rapidly and effectively regulate energy consumption by creating automatic, auction-based price and demand signals. These signals are transmitted to end-point devices, distribution points on the grid and storage devices, which respond by reducing electricity load based on pre-set parameters. Grid Command ADM leverages the intellectual property and algorithms developed by (PNNL) and recently licensed by Calico (see for details).
“Grid Command Active Demand Management was developed in response to the critical challenges facing electric utilities today and has proven in several real-world deployments to improve reliability while reducing costs for energy consumers,” said Spencer Pugh, Vice President and General Manager of Energy and Environment for Battelle. “We are delighted that Calico has chosen to license these technologies and to expand them to broader utility applications. We believe this agreement will provide material benefit to Calico, utilities and their customers.”
Grid Command ADM was developed as part of a Department of Energy (DOE) Smart Grid grant and has shown excellent potential in several recent implementations in the Pacific Northwest. The largest deployment includes more than 1,000 residential customers and employs a utility head-end module to dispatch real-time price or demand signals based on consumer “bids” and distribution constraints. This automated, closed-loop model has shown significant benefits over traditional demand response models, because it normalizes capacity issues, adjusts to changing variables and balances the intermittency of renewables in real-time.
“Calico sees enormous potential in integrating Battelle–s Grid Command ADM technologies into our Energy Intelligence Suite,” said Michael Miller, President and CEO of Calico Energy Services. “Grid Command ADM provides a quantum leap in a utility–s ability to balance supply, with very little cost and customer impact. Thanks to its rapid response and bi-directional communications, utilities can transform demand into a real-time operational resource, while integrating and managing intermittent renewables. In addition, Grid Command ADM brings powerful pricing incentives to customers without the difficulties of obtaining regulatory approval for a real-time electricity rate.”
Calico–s current software platform, the Energy Intelligence Suite (EIS), provides a utility head-end for managing Demand Response, Load Control and pricing events — as well as a consumer web portal. The Company will be utilizing Grid Command ADM as an advanced communication module to augment the current capabilities of EIS and provide utilities with the ability to manage load or transmission congestion, mitigate the impact of wholesale energy price spikes and regulate the intermittency of renewable energy sources. Specific benefits of this combined solution include:
Residential, commercial and industrial customers save money while simultaneously helping the environment and improving reliability. Using “set it and forget it” controls in Calico–s consumer web portal, these customers can adjust their level of participation based on how much money they want to save. Calico–s platform allows customers to establish price thresholds to meet their needs, analyze opportunities to save money and initiate control events with a variety of third-party end-point, distribution and storage devices. Meanwhile, customers retain full control over their comfort and privacy. Thanks to the real-time, two way capabilities of the technology, consumers will enjoy more savings opportunities while maintaining the ability to override events — reducing fatigue and increasing satisfaction.
. Grid Command ADM provides more rapid and reliable load management by automating the balance of supply and demand across a wide array of grid assets — enabling utilities of all types to implement a real-time virtual power plant that utilizes end-point devices, points in the distribution network, traditional generation assets, renewable power and energy storage. As a result, utilities can reduce peak demand and wholesale price impacts, regulate renewable intermittency and ease congestion. In addition, Grid Command ADM can reduce the need for excess capacity by providing a distributed, real-time load source. In recent pilot projects, Grid Command ADM was shown to reduce loads by 15 percent during peak events and 50 percent during shoulder periods.
As the world–s largest independent research and development organization, Battelle provides innovative solutions to the world–s most pressing needs through its Laboratory Management, National Security, Health and Life Sciences, Energy and Environment businesses. It advances scientific discovery and application by conducting $6.2 billion in global R&D annually through contract research, laboratory management and technology commercialization.
Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Battelle oversees 22,000 employees in more than 130 locations worldwide, including eight national laboratories for which Battelle has a significant management role on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the United Kingdom.
Battelle also is one of the nation–s leading charitable trusts focusing on societal and economic impact and actively supporting and promoting science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education.
Calico Energy provides a unified operations center that connects data, devices, software engines and applications. Through centralized reporting and powerful analytics, this “hub” enables intelligent decision making — as well as control of targeted energy resources and grid assets. Calico improves decision making by unifying all relevant data from inside and outside a utility and providing insight through advanced analytics and forecasting capabilities.
Calico also allows utilities to create, execute, test and fine-tune diverse load-management programs to meet operational needs, business goals and regulatory requirements — both today and in the future. The Company–s commitment to industry standards and open architecture ensures ongoing support for new and evolving technologies. To learn more about Calico Energy Services, please visit
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Thomas Doggett
Chief Marketing Officer
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